“You had a day as good as I ever had in there” Alex said smiling. “I count you at almost 150 silvers, that is more than enough money to get us a place to stay. I think you have the hot hand though, hand me the money, you are going to have 25 silvers to play with, if you lose then you just lose. The experience you could gain from playing those two could really help you out. Remember the woman will play it safe the entire way, if she doesn’t have a good hand she will toss in almost every hand. The old man will play recklessly, they are going to split the money either way so it won't matter. Just watch out for the old man cheating, if you catch him then call him out on it. I am not sure but I think they may have a third partner”.
“What do you mean a third partner?” Ezra asked. “There is no way I can win against three people working together. They will be passing cards and it will be impossible for me to catch”.
“I think they have some silent muscle to get them out of a jam” Alex replied. “I have noticed the same man three different times. He doesn’t say anything or play Forks, he just sits in a corner nursing the same tankard of ale and picks over his food. Only reason I picked up on him is because he never even looks at the serving girls or the beauty when she walks in. Only reason to come to a place like this is drink, women and gambling and he is doing neither”.
“So if we are in a fight then what?” Ezra asked.
“Protect your money and get out of there” Alex replied. “Maybe throw a couple of blows but get out of there. Remember to watch for the beauty’s feet”.
“I know I know” Ezra replied. “Both will slip off their shoes and slip a card between their toes and exchange them under the table. Only the old man will bet though, I just need to keep my eyes on him”.
“What about the force?” Alex replied.
“He always uses his left hand to force a card” Ezra replied.
“Alright then let's go make this coin” Alex replied.
Ezra followed Alex back inside and waited until the old man and the beauty were at the same table. The beauty was laughing and had all the men at the table looking at her. Her chest heaved with every giggle and Ezra was certain something was about to pop out. The old man was dealing this round, Ezra saw him replace a card with another one in the deck while everyone was mesmerized. The old man forced the card to the woman, it was done so smoothly Ezra wouldn’t have noticed it at all if Alex hadn’t told him what to look for. There was an empty seat and after everyone had finished looking at their cards Alex sat down.
“Well this looks like the only game around” Ezra said as he sat down then stared dreamily at the beauty. “I will admit the atmosphere is what brought me”.
“Aren’t you a charmer?” the beauty said and flashed him a smile. “You want in on this hand?”
“No it has already been dealt” Ezra replied as he played the lovesick fool Alex told him to. “I don’t mind watching for this hand though”.
Ezra watched the beauty as the old man started the pot off at 6 silvers, the most a dealer could. The man to Ezra’s right had a lot of silvers in front of him and matched the bet, the beauty looked at her cards and giggled then raised it by six silvers. It was a lot of money being bet as the other man upped the bet even more. This must have been one of the plays Alex kept drilling him on. Alex was not surprised to see the old man throw down two five’s. The man next to him threw down two nines, in forks and plates and went to take the pot. The other man smacked his hand and showed a 10 in cups and plates. When the beauty showed her perfect tens in knives and Forks, Ezra had to nod about the shrewdness of the maneuver. Ezra watched the old man curse as the beauty took hold of the pot, this would be a long night.
Ezra missed a couple of cues and gave away some decent sized hands but won some as well. He didn’t have a profit but he was only down one silver which wasn’t bad. Ezra came to the moment of truth though, he saw the old man start to deal in a crazy way and tried to act like he wasn’t looking until the woman started laughing and touched Ezra’s hand. Ezra had estimated the only person who had a forced hand so far was him, the old man didn’t have any time to set the rest up and Ezra ignored the woman and made a show of looking at his hands. The old man stopped what he was doing smoothly and started dealing. Ezra could see he was irritated at as he dealt the cards, he almost didn’t even look at his hand before he went with the lowest amount for the pot as possible and tossed in his cards. Ezra had two 10’s and raised it six silvers. The woman saw her cards and also raised the pot six silvers, Ezra thought he had misread it, this pot was already high and it would be a lot of money to lose. When the rest of the table tossed in their cards Ezra laughed as he grabbed the pot. It was a good amount of money that irritated the old man but Ezra could read shock all over the beauty’s face as she realized she lost. Ezra took off one boot and waited, Alex had wanted him to just call the two cheaters on it but he had a different plan. Three hands went by until Ezra saw his moment. Ezra had a nine and a two of cups, he took the two and put it between his toes and took the card from the beauty’s foot and handed over his own. Ezra grabbed the card and slipped his boot back on swiftly and watched the old man sweat as he kept trying to reach the woman with his foot.
“I am tired of all this, my mom wanted me home hours ago” Ezra said as he raised the pot by six silvers. “This is my last hand either way, who is in and who is out?”
“Well I am going to go in and raise it another six silvers” the beauty said smiling.
“So you want to end it all right here huh?” said a man in a black hat that had been playing since Ezra sat down. “My hand is decent, here is my own six silvers to raise”.
Ezra watched the old man as he looked at the woman. The old man was confused, he looked at the beauty who kept a fake smile on her face but looking at the old man made her confused as well. The old man put his six silvers and raised. The pot was at 96 silvers and the card Ezra got from the woman was a 10 of Forks. Ezra threw down his cards and winked at the beauty who had a look of shock on her face. Ezra raked in the coins and started pocketing them, he had almost won the same amount playing with the so called professional cheats than he did playing with everyone else. The beauty looked outraged as Ezra pocked the money then began to scream.
“How dare you stick your foot up my dress” the beauty said as she stood up and tossed the remains of her tankard into Ezra’s face.
“I did no such thing” Ezra protested as the old man became angry.
“If I was younger I would ask to you step outside” The old man said angrily.
“Well I am young” came a voice. Ezra turned to see who it was and caught a blow from a chair. The blow was hard and sent Ezra to the floor. Hands started rifling through his pockets but they would find nothing, the special pants Alex had made had a little hole in the pockets which led to a small pouch near his leg. Ezra grabbed a dagger on his hip and buried it into the arm of whoever was checking his pockets. Ezra guessed it was a man by the scream and drew his dagger back. Ezra was still woozy but could tell there was a lot of fighting going on as he climbed to his feet swinging the dagger wildly. People were giving him space as he remembered what Alex told him and stumbled towards the door.
Ezra emerged into the night air and his head started to clear. He could make out Alex who was down the street. Alex disappeared around a corner, Ezra took off to follow him. Ezra was halfway down the street when he looked back and saw the beauty. She pointed towards him to a big man who took off towards him. Ezra disappeared around the same corner and could see a rope was hanging from a building. Ezra knew it had to be Alex’s doing and pulled himself to the roof and pulled up the rope just as his pursuer ran around the corner. The man continued running down the street as Alex patted Ezra on the back.
“Better than I could ever imagine” Alex said in a whisper. “I can't believe I got the whole thing”.
“What whole thing?” Ezra asked.
“When the fight started I was able to cut the woman’s purse” Alex laughed as
he produced a coin purse. “She didn’t feel a thing and was busy fending off hands as someone saw the ruckus and grabbed a tit trying to get a free feel. The old man went for your pockets and you stuck him good, he backed up howling and I got his purse as well. The brute that hit you was robbed by someone else, before he made it to the door I relieved him of the coin and sat back to watch a stream of cut purses and drunk men who wanted a fight. I got the pit out of there and hoped you were smart enough to follow me. Altogether with just your winnings we are at least 300 silver richer, with whatever I got we shouldn’t need to pull a stunt like that for a good while”.
“So now what is the plan?” Ezra replied.
“Now we try to go somewhat legit since we have decent seed money” Alex replied. “I thought we were going to just keep hitting the bar circuit but that cute little trick you pulled just let our competition know we were thieves as well. They may have a bunch of back up so we have to lay low. Good thing though is we have enough coin to rent out a small house in an okay section of town and live comfortably for at least a year. I wasn’t expecting the big stakes in a place like that, only a couple of copper. To make us legit we can open up a small store or something, we both know how to read and write. Maybe we could claim to be numbers men. Businesses always like to hire men who could tell them where they were losing money”.
“But who would hire a bunch pf people they don’t know to count money and things” Ezra asked.
“No one would, that is the beauty of it” Alex replied. “We can lay low for a while, maybe even get you involved in learning some things. There are some folks looking for apprentices as well, maybe that old boot maker we bought our boots from”.
“That old man looks like he is ready to die at any moment” Ezra laughed. “He has to be the oldest man I ever met”.
“Then he would be perfect” Alex replied. “If he kicks the tankard then we would be the first to know and steal everything we can get our hands on. Well let's give it another couple of hours on the roof before we get to moving. You might as well settle down to sleep, we will leave just as the sun is trying to come up”.
CHAPTER 4
The most complete way to destroy an enemy, is to turn them into a friend. The easiest way to defeat an enemy is finding them someone else to fight.
-Unknown
“I don’t understand why that old man keeps yelling at me” Ezra replied. “Why can't I pretend to be your apprentice doing numbers”.
“Because you need at least one skill farm boy and the damn Fale have started shopping at the place”. Alex said as he relaxed on the sofa in their home. “Part of being a good thief is having a well-rounded amount of skills. After you are passable at boot making you may want to get into furs or bow making. You never know when you may have to hide out in the forest and need to survive. Being good at boot making could save your feet”.
“The old man keeps yelling at me like I am an idiot” Ezra replied. “I can tell he doesn’t like me much, his emotions are easier to read than yours are”.
“You are overreacting” Alex replied. “You told me that your work is decent enough, at least for someone who has only been apprenticing for a month or so”.
“My work is better than passable” Ezra said grumpily. “The old man really is not that skilled, his hands can't make the fine stitching mine can. Just today a Fale soldier came in and asked for me personally to make him some boots like his friend. I still can't stand those asshats though, most of the time they just take the merchandise for free, I don’t know how the old man is staying in business”.
“Why do you keep calling him the old man” Alex asked. “What is his name?”
“Jerold” Ezra replied. “And I call him the old man because that is what he is, an angry old man”.
“Well maybe he is angry because the Fale keeps stealing all of his things” Alex replied. “Maybe I will let it slip to one of the Knights of Justice. They will do something about it, then again the Fale has that Unarmored walking around town. I think it is the same guy from the outpost, it would start up a good fight but it might leave the shop destroyed”.
“That Unarmored guy still doesn’t look like much to me” Ezra replied. “I have seen the Knights of Justice, I think one on one my money would be on the Knight”.
“Well if you want to bring that trouble on yourself I think you should ask Jerold first” Alex replied. “If you don’t you might get yourself in some trouble or fired”.
“Well it is almost time for me to get to work” Ezra replied. “And I can feel his irritation the entire time I am there”.
Ezra slipped on his boots and walked to work. The air was still cold but it woke him up a bit. Ezra hated the old man wouldn’t let him carry his sword, said it invited trouble. The Fale teased him for being his size and making boots instead of fighting in the war. Of course, they threw in that he would most likely be dead if he did but Ezra attributed it to just soldiers bragging. Ezra tired of their mouth, if he had his sword he was sure he could win a fight. Even with his long dagger he was sure he could win, but Ezra wasn’t ready to let the old man know why Ezra was never seen without his coat. Ezra made it to the shop just as the old man was pulling up in his wagon.
“Bout time you made it” the old man grumped. “You have to be the laziest apprentice I have ever had”.
“I finished up all your orders yesterday except those of the Fale soldiers” Ezra replied.
“Well why didn’t you finish the Fale soldiers?” Jerold barked. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken on an apprentice as old as you are. How old are you anyway, 19?”
Ezra was about to answer but decided not to. Any answer would piss the old man off even more. Ezra waited for the old man to get down and took the horse around the back of the shop while Jerold opened the boot shop. Ezra thought about going through the back door but anything he did would make Jerold even madder. Ezra walked in and could hear someone behind him.
“Where are my boots at?” a Fale soldier said as he walked through the door.
“No material” Ezra said thinking quickly. “To buy some we need you to leave a deposit”.
“I aint leaving shit Azardian” the soldier said as he stepped up and backhanded Ezra.
Ezra was on his way to fight but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder. It was Jerold who had a grip tighter than Ezra would have imagined. Ezra tried to move but the old man had to have been putting all his body weight into it. Ezra was about to remove his hand when Jerold began to speak.
“We will work on it right away” Jerold said in a voice that let Ezra know he was nervous.
“I aint working on shit for this tosser” Ezra said amazed at how much he sounded like Alex. “They have just taken six pairs of boots off us already with no payment”.
“You will work on the boots” Jerold said looking at Ezra then started speaking to the soldier. “We will have them in two days sir, sorry for the trouble”.
“It is a shame you Azardians need slapped around a bit before you start acting right” the soldier said. “I want two boots since I had to go through the trouble of hurting my hand and I want your apprentice to initial the soles for me. Every time I step I want to see his name in the dirt and mud where it belongs”.
Ezra saw the man walk out the door and removed the old man’s hand. Ezra normally only saw irritation or anger in Jerold but now he was seeing actual nervousness. Ezra wanted to scream at the old man but bit his tongue. Ezra needed to get his thoughts in order before he began to speak.
“They are robbing you blind” Ezra began. “We should go talk to the Knights since I doubt the Fale command cares what the soldiers are doing”.
“You are going to do neither boy” Jerold snarled. “What were you trying to do, get my shop burned down?”
“No but I don’t take getting slapped by no man easily” Ezra replied.
“You are going to get yourself killed boy” the old man said as he slapped Ezra full across the face. “I know a soldier
when I see one, you probably was just lucky to make it here well in advance before the Fale did. That slap he gave you must wasn’t hard enough, I hope mine put some sense into your head”.
“How did you know?” Ezra said as Jerold stared at him angrily.
“Because I aint a fool” Jerold snapped. “I can see the hesitation and lies all over you whenever I ask a question”.
“What do you mean by lies?” Ezra asked.
“Anytime I asked you anything you already have a pack of lies waiting” Jerold said as his head suddenly snapped up towards the door.
The door opened, in walked the soldier Ezra had just gotten into it with along with an Unarmored. The Unarmored was female, that was easy to see as she had on high red leather boots with what looked like a red leather loincloth that left little to the imagination. It left her hips bare and hung to her mid-thigh in both front and back. Her mid drift was bare and she had red leather circles pasted to her chest that covered her nipples and little else. Her head was bald and she had the cloth covering her lower face, also in red leather. Her blue eyes looked over Ezra, Ezra didn’t want to admit it but it made him jump a little and he was sure the woman smiled under her mask. Ezra had not seen this Unarmored before, the only weapons she looked to be carrying were little tips of metal that were made to look like claws which adorned her red leather gloves.
“This is the bootmaker ma’am” the soldier said almost fearful.
“A little more than I expected of a boot maker” the Unarmored spoke as she looked at Ezra. Ezra could feel the confidence coming off of this woman, she was like a bear in a room full of sheep. No one here intimidated her, she was a little tall for a woman but Ezra doubted two of her could match his strength. But somehow he knew to leave this woman alone, she looked at him like a hungry man looks at a steak. She sauntered over to him and put one of her razor tipped fingers under his chin.
“You are very nice for a bootmaker” the Unarmored began. “Except for the scar, how did you get it?”
The Blood Blade Page 3
